OKay; spackle and not joint compound.

The cover plate does not conceal the blemishes. At the bottom end of
the hole, when viewing at perpendicular/level height there is a
noticeable gap with the cover plate installed.

It is that gap/hole that has me considering using a mesh tape and then
spackle over that. I do have a partial roll of mesh fiber tape here,
left by a previous jobber. Claims to be self adhesive. I tried
wetting it first and placing on a test surface area, but it did not
stick at all.

I saw something called Lite Spackle at the HD that I almost brought
home. I do have a tube of "painter's nail hole filler" from HD (made
by Eclectic Products, Inc.). Wondering if that would adhere
sufficiently ?

On 25 Dec 2005 11:27:55 -0800, wrote:

My rule on this is - if the outlet cover plate conceals it then I do
not do anything to it but make sure it gets painted. If it does NOT get
concealed then some spackle is required but no tape.